Writeups of domains under former Darklords?

[The Dark]

Have their been fanon write-ups of domains that used to have different rulers but didn't get write-ups during their reign? The three that come to mind are Borca under Camille Dilisnya (684-711), Richemulot under Claude Renier (694-726), and Invidia under Bakholis (603-729), although there could be others I've forgotten.

As an aside, I hadn't realized Gabrielle had only taken over 6 years before the Black Box (and 9 for Jacqueline). They're both still fairly new to their power/curse.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I had been doing one for Arkandale which was almost finished. I 'd better finish it before October

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I don't know of any existing ones, but we can make ones ourselves!
Like, what do we know about that Bakholis?

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I don't know of any existing writeups, but I'm willing to invent ones.
I've read a little about Bakholis. He ruled Invidia for over a century, so this is important, but the thing is his curse is pretty boring. It's literally just to become a werewolf. Like, I don't underestimate the struggles of people struggling with lycanthropy, and I can see the poetic justice in an implied sexual predator cursed to transform into an actual, literal predator, but it feels a little too generic for a darklord's curse?
I feel like I need to know more about modern Invidia to start getting creative. Right now I know about Gabrielle and Malocchio, but little about the domain itself.

[The Dark]

Regarding Bakholis, the Black Box and Red Box are both extremely vague, not even naming him. They just say that Gabrielle took over Invidia "from its former lord, a werewolf who attempted to enslave her" (Black Box) or "a werewolf who foolishly attempted to enslave her rather than kill her" (Red Box).

The Evil Eye gives the detail that Gabrielle whammied him with her evil eye power and slit his throat with a silver knife. Bakholis built the fortifications around the town of Karina, but he mostly lived in Castle Loupet with the castle and town being administered by Manfred Taige, his steward (Taige was killed when Bakholis' garrison revolted upon hearing of his death and now haunts the north wing of the Citadel of Karina).

Domains of Dread adds that Bakholis discouraged people from entering the forests of the domain, and since Gabrielle became Darklord there hasn't been a central authority (she's the Darklord but doesn't hold temporal power), so it's remained mostly wilderness.

That's everything we get on Bakholis in 2e.

In 3e, he features in the History section for Invidia in Gaz IV. That makes him a ruthless dictator who levied crushing taxes on the peasants and conscripted them for labor and bed partners. He was cursed with lycanthropy outside Ravenloft after an incident that involves rape, torture, and murder and got Misted that night. On the next full moon, he killed his entire family.

Of note for a Core-era write-up, that 3e profile says he forged trade agreements with Arkandale and Gundarak, and was on polite but arm's-length relations with Strahd.

"S" claims that pleasure and violence were indistinguishable to Bakholis, but that could be literal or hyperbolic. Either way, I doubt lycanthropy is his only curse, since the other werewolf Darklords have additional curses (e.g. revert to human form when emotional, unable to leave a boat, can never find prey when hunting). As with Strahd or Azalin, "just" being a monster isn't enough of a curse for the Dark Powers.

[brothersale]

i've always consider Bakholis may have had one of those personalities where he was prior to his curse very type A, cold controling, every thing must be so ordered, and that his curse put all of his emotional baggage too close to the surface. It made him fly off the handle at the drop of hat, and being unable to truely reign in his emotional control like his did before by repressing it,instead he became much like the hot blooded nature of the Invidian population (they were intially a reflection of his darklordship, the jealousy and vengeful nature came later from Gabby), but as he previously only really supressed his emotion he lacked control over them. thus the true curse of his lycanthropy is simply a progression of his emotional instability, and his attempt to regain what he sees as act of control and order fall apart into brutallity and rage, further furstrating himself at his lack of control

[brothersale]

As for more darklords to add to the pot, there is often forgotten, the Queen of Timor, mother of the current Darklord the Hive Queen, who was the Darklord before her daughter arranged for her to die. As well as Duke Gundar former ruler of Gundarak, which has been covered somewhat in the Gaz I but mainly from a cultural and historical nature than a fully domain writeup.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

As well as Duke Gundar former ruler of Gundarak, which has been covered somewhat in the Gaz I but mainly from a cultural and historical nature than a fully domain writeup.

Τhats going to be my next project (when I have time that is...)

[The Dark]

One other one would be Kravon, the Darklord of Eyrie before the Baron in Dungeon #58. I'm not sure how exciting it would be, since the adventure claims he was alone in the flying citadel until confronted by the Baron.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

i've always consider Bakholis may have had one of those personalities where he was prior to his curse very type A, cold controling, every thing must be so ordered, and that his curse put all of his emotional baggage too close to the surface. It made him fly off the handle at the drop of hat, and being unable to truely reign in his emotional control like his did before by repressing it,instead he became much like the hot blooded nature of the Invidian population (they were intially a reflection of his darklordship, the jealousy and vengeful nature came later from Gabby), but as he previously only really supressed his emotion he lacked control over them. thus the true curse of his lycanthropy is simply a progression of his emotional instability, and his attempt to regain what he sees as act of control and order fall apart into brutallity and rage, further furstrating himself at his lack of control

I had a different idea, but also in the 'loss of control' direction.
The thing about afflicted lycanthropy, is that it's actually relatively simple* to manage once you know what's going on. Cause it's hard and terrifying but it's also quite *predictable*. You just need to recognise your trigger, than arrange to either avoid it or be constrained/away from other humanoids whenever it appears. Like learning on what dates you usually menustrate and making sure have pads. A werebeast determined not to hurt people - or to hide their curse - probably could forge such a plan after some trial and error (the problem is the risk during the period of trial and error).
*Simple compared to other lethal curses, I mean. It obviously takes some preparation and resources, and there's always a chance things will go wrong.

But for this, of course, you need a clear pattern of how your lycanthropy works. If it's a set time period (like, you shapeshift every night/once a month on a specific phase of the moon/on solstices and equinouxes/on Friday the 13th), you can make sure to stay near your 'transformation jail' around that time. If it's a certain material, you can treat it like an allergen, finding safe replacements for it when needed and asking the right questions to make sure you aren't accidentally exposed to it. If it's an emotion I suppose it's hardest, but there are still psychological techniques that can help - not to *avoid* undesired emotions, but to regulate them well enough so they won't reach the level required to trigger a transformation.

What if Bakholis' curse is that his lycanthropy doesn't have a pattern? He can change at any moment, under any conditions, (maybe to any animal?) completely outside of his control? He's constantly trying to find consistency in what's totally random?
He took away a woman's control over her body. Now he's cursed to never have control over his own.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Now let's go for Camille.
The thing is, I'm struggling to think how Camille's Borca can be conceptually different enough from Ivana's to be worth playing, as they have a very similar personality and aesthetic.
So let's go for history.
It's said (In Gaz 4, I think?) that Borca was taken (or, more likely, copied) into the mists alongside Barovia, but stayed isolated until Camille came.
Is this false history? Probably. Or maybe not. It could be an oubliette (or however you spell that). Or an Island of Terror under a different darklord (who?) who happened to die at the same time.
But the important thing is that the Borcan people believed that. Moreover, they believed only a Dillysnia returning from exile could have found the domain. Camille was a prophesized heroine to them, a savior - until, of course, they found out she was a paranoid, bloodthirsty tyrant. Camille, from her side, practically won the lottery (automatically inheritting all of her anscestors wealth, including the century-old dividends) - with the catch of living in constant, often justified fear of betrayal.

Now, the 'spoiler' button (actually all the text option buttons) isn't working for some reason, so I'm apologising ahead of time to anyone who hadn't finished yet the first season of The Good Place. Try your best to skip the post.













































It's a series about a woman who died and made it to heaven by accident, despite being a pretty bad person in life. Like, not a murderer or anything, but a petty, mean, selfish jerk you'd hate to be around.
She tries out the different pleasures heaven has to offer, makes new friends, even turns a little less mean and selfish - but for some reason, mishaps and catastrophes keep disturbing her allegedly perfect afterlife.
The twist is,






























































































































That she isn't in heaven at all! Her hell is simply to live in constant Imposter Syndrom, thinking she has won an incredible prize she doesn't actually deserve!


I think this can be our theme for Camille's Borca:
Camille thinks life has paid her good onto evil, and now she just has to protect all that good - never noticing how much stress she's in, having to constantly deal with burglaries, assasination attempts and other troubles that are direct consequences of her rise to power.
The Borcan people think they've been saved, now finally able to trade with other domains, never noticing that none of the wealth earned from that trade actually benefits the commoners.
People in hell, convinced they're in heaven, never asking out loud the question everyone secretly think: Why on earth am I not enjoying?

[Mistmaster]

You might want to check my Borca Article, in QtR 28 if I am not mistaken. I use Camille as the Darklord there.

[doctornecrotic]

I did some writeups on my old blog for Gundarak, though they mostly explored a scenario where it came back. I did add some spins on the past though, including Duke Gundar's past life. It's something I should compile and remake at some point.

[Pizza]

Kalidnay’s dark lord is the head Templar ruling in place of Kalidma who went insane trying to transform into a dragon and was subdued by the dragon Boris and another Sorceror King. She encourages everyone to believe Kalidma is still around and functioning out of sight. All that said Kalidma is granting spells to her templars and is being worshipped by people in the city at least much as one does when asking for spells and showing fear and reverence for a sorceror king. Is Ravenloft enough like a normal place that this will eventually turn her into a god and/or heal her madness and stasis?

[The Dark]

Kalidnay’s dark lord is the head Templar ruling in place of Kalidma who went insane trying to transform into a dragon and was subdued by the dragon Boris and another Sorceror King. She encourages everyone to believe Kalidma is still around and functioning out of sight. All that said Kalidma is granting spells to her templars and is being worshipped by people in the city at least much as one does when asking for spells and showing fear and reverence for a sorceror king. Is Ravenloft enough like a normal place that this will eventually turn her into a god and/or heal her madness and stasis?

While people are free to do whatever they like in their campaigns, I think the canon approach would lean toward an answer of "no." Forbidden Lore's rules for converting templars say that they lose their spells when entering Ravenloft, but regain them if they start worshiping a Darklord. While its description of Kalidnay does say Kalid-Ma is the "battery" for the templar magic, it also says Thakok-An is directing it. I would consider that a variant of the "templar worshiping a Darklord" rule - they think they're being granted spells by Kalid-Ma, but it's actually coming from Thakok-An, who also thinks it's coming from Kalid-Ma.